Citrus TV to produce first Spanish show

By: Aleksey Shats

Posted: 2/25/08

For the first time, CitrusTV will be broadcast en espanol.

CitrusTV, the student-run television station of Syracuse University, announced the addition of the Spanish news program, "CitrusTV Noticias en Espanol," to its network. The show will reach out to Spanish-speaking members on the SU campus and in the community and will broadcast as early as the first weekend after spring break.

"The show's goal is to focus on the news affecting the Latino community on the Syracuse campus and in the Syracuse community," said Jason Tarr, the founder and the executive producer of the show.

"We're going to be reporting as well on things that are going on in the Latino Diaspora, so anything or anywhere where the Latinos are making news," said Tarr, who is also a staff writer for The Daily Orange.

Diaspora is a term referring to people existing outside of their homeland, or familiar culture.

Tarr, a junior broadcast journalism, international relations and Spanish major, describes the idea for the show as a two-part process that began about two years ago when he arrived in Syracuse.

"I was asking students, my friends, what they thought they wanted, what they felt there was a need for," he said. "A lot of students said that there is really no Spanish television program here. They felt like it was something that Syracuse needed, especially since it is one of the top broadcast journalism schools in the country."

Personal interest also played a part in developing the idea for a Spanish news program, Tarr said.

"Coming from Los Angeles, I grew up seeing the importance of the Spanish language and how it is growingly important," he said. "There is a need for programs that connect with Spanish speakers where they cannot only get their Spanish domestically, but also internationally about the countries that they emigrated from."

Tarr followed through on his idea, and in May of last year, he submitted his proposal to the executive staff of CitrusTV. Because the proposal was submitted at the end of the semester, CitrusTV did not have much time to review it, he said. Tarr spent the summer consulting with people about the program and resubmitted an updated proposal to the executive staff in the fall semester.

"I met with executive staffs of two campus organizations, National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and La LUCHA, and got their support for the program," he said. "A lot of the people at those two organizations have been really key in helping get this show off the ground."

Once CitrusTV approved Tarr's proposal, the pilot show was taped on Dec. 2, 2007. The pilot show ran entirely in Spanish and featured news, sports, entertainment and weather segments. The pilot show was made available for viewers on YouTube, Tarr said.

The pilot episode was anchored by members of the NAHJ and other Spanish-speaking students, said Michelle San Miguel, who anchored the news segment of the show. A sophomore broadcast journalism and international relations major, San Miguel said she had to go on Spanish network Web sites to find information for the stories featured in the broadcast.

"One of the things we're striving to do with this newscast is to educate people about important issues that are taking place in Latin American countries," she said. "This newscast will help students who have little knowledge or want to learn more about these countries."

"CitrusTV Noticias en Espanol" officially became part of CitrusTV programming on Jan. 23, Tarr said. The show will first appear on CitrusTV Web site every two weeks on Sundays. The program is currently looking for students to fill on-air and off-air positions.

"At first it will be available online," Tarr said. "CitrusTV is putting together a new Web site, and we know we're going to be on that Web site and that's kind of where we will be for now. We do have a blog, and that blog is kind of the center for our show that informs people of any news and updates with the show.

"The hope is to eventually have it on RTN or another channel, so that people in the community and at Syracuse University can see it," he said.

Information about "CitrusTV Noticias en Espanol" can be found at ctvenespanol.blogspot.com, he said. On-air auditions will be held on Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A sign-up sheet will be posted outside the television station beginning Wednesday for students to choose an audition time.

ashats@syr.edu